Before It's Too Late
by IceCreamAndPizza
Summary: While waiting to receive her cascade badge, Lyra stumbles upon a picture, leading her to discover that her and Misty may have more in common then they think. Idea came to me after watching the episodes Lyra was in.


"Corsola is unable to battle. Chikorita is the winner. This match goes to Lyra of New Bark Town!" the reff announced as I returned Corsola to its Pokeball.

"We did it!" Lyra cheered from the other end of the pool as her Chikorita cheered from the platform it was on. She had put up a good fight and had won fair and square. I couldn't argue with that.

Climbing down from my own platform, I walked across the gym floor to officially congratulate Lyra on winning. As my feet padded across the floor, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness as I realized that I had finally lost. At the same time, though, I was glad nobody but Lyra and the reff were there to see me lose. I hated losing, and it made it even worse when a ton of people were there to see it happen.

When I reached Lyra, she stopped cheering and turned around to face me. She immediately looked down at her feet as if she was intimidated by me. I had learned over the years that a lot of trainers seemed to be intimidated by me just because I was a gym leader and ironically, not because of my temper.

"Congratulations," I smiled, offering her my hand. "You're a really good trainer."

"Thanks," she smiled sheepishly. I guess she had some self-doubt.

"I'm sorry, but I keep the badges in my office, so if you don't mind you are welcome to come with me," I explained.

"No problem," she smiled, following me as we walked down the hall and into my office

I was pretty sure I remembered where I had put them, but like I said, it had been a while since someone had actually beaten me.

When I had first arrived at the gym, Daisy had showed me the room where my office was. It had been a mess since my sisters were rarely ever in it, using it mainly as a storage area. Because of this, I had spent the first four days as a gym leader cleaning out my office so I could actually use it. I had found boxes and boxes of useless papers that had been kept because my sisters were under the impression that they would one day be important. At least, that's what they had told me.

As we walked into my office, it was much neater than the old one had been. I had file cabinets that held all of my important paper work and records of my battles and Pokemon. My walls were cluttered with Pokemon posters that had once been in my room. On the far right side of my office was my desk, which was a bit messier than I had wanted it. There were papers sprawled all over the desks some completely filled out, while others had yet to be started. Tonight, I promised myself as I spotted them on my desk, I would finish them. Above my desk was a bulletin board that was covered with Post-It-Notes, reminding me of the various things I needed to do or remember. In the opposite corner was a wooden shelf cluttered with water Pokemon figurines and the Princess Dolls I had won those many years ago.

In my search for the badges, I started with the file cabinet where I often placed random things in the top drawer. Pulling it open, I began rummaging through the various postcards and unframed pictures I had been given over the years. In addition, I found a few pens, a notebook and a label maker. After searching the bottom, though, I closed the drawer having found nothing. Hmm. Maybe I had put them on the shelf again. While I searched for the badges, Lyra had taken it upon herself to walk around my office, looking at the various objects with curiosity.

Since I wasn't tall enough to reach the top shelf, I had to use my chair. The only reason this tall shelf had been there in the first place was because my sisters, who had no problem reaching the top, had refused to buy me a new one. As I pulled the chair over to the shelf, I heard Lyra start talking to me.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, picking up a frame that was sitting on my desk. "I met this kid!" She stared at the photo intently before glancing at me to see if I had heard her.

"Hmm?" I answered as I pulled a small box off the shelf. Aha! This had to be the box I had put the badges in.

"This kid in the picture," she repeated. "I've met them."

Stepping down from the chair, I glanced at my desk trying to figure out what picture she had grabbed. Since I had only placed two frames on my desk, it was pretty easy to guess which one she had taken. One of them was one of those frames where you could put up to 4 photos in it, while the other-my favorite of the two-was a frame meant for a single photo that had the word _Memories_ written in fancy cursive on it. I know it probably sounded dumb and cheesy, but I really liked that frame. And based on process of elimination, that had been the one she was talking about.

When I turned back to face her, instead of having me guess who she was talking about, she turned it around so I could see, pointing to the person she was talking about

As I glanced at the photo she was holding, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion for the frame she was holding had a picture of Ash and I in it. Previous to when the picture had been taken, we had been in one of our heated arguments over the fact that he had gotten us lost once again. Too involved in our argument, we hadn't realized how close we had gotten to each others faces. Just as I was about to back away in embarasment, Brock had yelled cheese, snapping a picture when Ash and I had turned around. In the picture, Ash and I had looks of confusion on our faces while my head, having been so close to his, had lifted up the bill of his hat when we turned around. While I had lied to others about keeping the photo because it 'captured our relationship', I had picked it because I had always thought Ash looked cute when he was confused. Following her finger, I realized that the person she was pointing to was none other than Ash.

"Ash?"

"Yeah! That was his name. I met him in Sinnoh," she told me. It would make sense I guess, considering that's where I had last heard he was. Still what were the chances she had met Ash?

"Ash Ketchum?" I asked, not totally believing her.

"Yeah. He had a Pikachu just like this one." She picked up the other frame on my desk, shoving it in my face as she pointed to a picture of Ash and Pikachu, making sure I knew she was telling the truth. She quickly set it back down and gazed happily at the first one. "He's so handsome. And brave, too. I've been dying to ask him out."

Thankfully I was safely on the ground, or I would have probably fallen off the chair. "What? Are you crazy?"

"No...," she said in a low voice. "He helped me find my Pokemon when it ran off, and then he saved us from being trapped in this warehouse for the rest of our lives. He was so calm about it, too. He would be great boyfriend material."

"You can't!" I snapped. But in a quieter voice, I added, "be his girlfriend."

I watched as her eyes got big. "Oh my god! Is he your boyfriend? I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to...I'm so sorry..." She immediately set the picture back on my desk, guilty about having been practically drooling over a picture of what she thought was me and my boyfriend. She hadn't turned it back around, though, the picture now facing the both of us.

"He's not my boyfriend," I grumbled. I hated being accused of this all the time.

"Well if he's not your boyfriend then why do you care?" she wondered. "Besides, how do you know Ash anyway?" I could see that she really didn't understand why I was getting so defensive about this. Then again, neither did I.

"He's my best friend," I whispered. "We used to travel together." I barely knew this girl, but here I was answering her questions about Ash, a topic I avoided like the plague.

"Really? That's so neat. I bet he was a great traveling partner. Such determination, such maturity!" she raved. My frown quickly disappeared as I whipped my head around in shock. Huh? Were her and I even talking about the same Ash?

I couldn't help it, but I started laughing hysterically, causing her to look severely offended.

"What's so funny?

"Ash? Mature? Yeah right," I laughed some more.

"He is, too," she shot back. "You would know that if you still traveled with him. You're not very nice for a best friend, you know?"

I stopped laughing immediately, feeling my face redden at a lightening speed. What Lyra said made me boil in seething anger. I wanted to scream at her and demanded to know who she exactly thought she was. What gave her any right to say those things? What did she think gave her the right to come in here and accuse me of being a crappy best friend? To then go and imply that I WANTED to leave.

"Look Lyra!" I shouted. "I don't know who you think you are, but you have no right to come in here and accuse me of being a crappy best friend. You don't even know what happened."

I had successfully put her in her place, for she stood in front of me shaking in fear. While she stood in fear, though, I felt emotions I had been holding back race through me. Why did she have to bring him up? Remind me of the one thing I hated thinking about. I never wanted to leave, but I had to. And I had tried to stay in touch, but he never called or wrote or anything. It wasn't my fault. Glancing at the picture, I wished more than anything that I could be back there in that moment when everything was great. Where I should be. With him.

"I never wanted to leave," I mumbled out loud as I stared at the picture.

"Oh," she frowned at me. "I'm sorry, Misty." She just stood where she was, looking back and forth between me and the picture.

"It's fine," I replied, wiping my face. I pretty sure I hadn't been crying, but I wanted to make sure. "Let me get you your badge." I picked up the box and pulled out a rain-drop shaped badge and handed to her.

"Thanks. And I'm sorry I said those things," she replied, although still a bit shaken up. Grabbing the badge, she stood there for a moment longer, puzzling me as to why she hadn't left yet. "You two were really close weren't you?" she asked, although it sounded like it was more of a rhetorical question.

"We're best friends."

"Yeah, I know, but you were closer than that weren't you? Or at least, you wanted to be, right?"

"Don't you have another city you need to be in?" I asked her. Why wouldn't she leave?

"Fine, I'll go," she sighed, sensing her prescence was no longer wanted. "But before I go, let me tell you something. Although you may deny it, I can tell you two are a lot closer than you're letting on. He's a great guy, Misty, and I have a feeling you and I aren't the only ones who think that. So do something about it before it's too late." Turning around, she left the office, leaving me to ponder her words.

As her footsteps echoed through the gym, what I had known deep down finally hit me. And it had taken a stupid girl to remind me of what I could no longer avoid: I had to act before it was too late.


End file.
